Co-founder Saltgrass Printmakers
Bio:
Stefanie Dykes is a co-founder of Saltgrass Printmakers. Established in 2003, Saltgrass Printmakers is a non-profit printmaking studio and gallery located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Stefanie has taught drawing and printmaking classes at the University of Utah, Westminster College, Snow College and Saltgrass Printmakers. Dykes has been awarded three artist residencies; PLAYA, Oregon, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Colorado and Surel’s Place, Idaho. She received her MFA from the University of Utah in 2010.
Dykes exhibits nationally; McNeese National Works on Paper; IPCNY; Ink&Clay; Harnett Biennial of American Prints, and internationally; Biennial of Douro, Portugal, DA3 at University of Central Lancashire and The Harris Museum, UK, International Print Biennale, Newcastle, UK, and SGCI Portland, IMPACT9-China, IMPACT8-Scotland and IMPACT6-UK.
Panelist: Still Great?: Artists’ Responses to a Lake in Crisis
3:35-4:25 - Friday, May 13th
Title: RESIDUAL DEPOSITS
Abstract: I want art and life to connect in a meaningful way. I aspire to understand how experiences, words, and thoughts can be slowed down and refracted through drawings and prints. Narrative is a driving force in my work. Lately, I have found myself mapping the psyche and charting Psyche’s circuitous journey. I have crossed great oceans and ancient lake beds in search of myths and metaphors.
Every year, I drive out to the Great Salt Lake with a friend or two. The trip has become a creative ritual. My friends and I don’t necessary make art ‘about’ the lake, but the Great Salt Lake leaves its residue on us. We take our experiences back to our studios and track it all over our artwork.
Last Fall, I was at PLAYA, a residency program for artists and scientists located in Summer Lake, Oregon. There I met Dr. James O’Connor. Jim is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and an expert on the ‘Lake Bonneville Flood.’ We talked about how the double shoreline around the Salt Lake valley was formed. It seems that the waters of Lake Bonneville/Great Salt Lake have always been trying to escape the Great Basin, either by overflowing Red Rock Pass, or by slowly evaporating under current climate conditions. The dwindling shallow waters leave behind numerous heavy metals from our current caustic environment.